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Former Vancouver Canucks Forward Doesn't Hold Back Calling Out Elias Pettersson


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Edward Jaxon
October 15, 2025  (7:19 PM)
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Former Vancouver Canucks forward Jannik Hansen.
Photo credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin-Imagn Images

Former Vancouver Canucks forward Jannik Hansen gave his take on the team's struggles to start the 2025-26 season during an interview on Sportsnet 650 radio.

The Vancouver Canucks have struggled to start the 2025-26 season, with eight goals in three games, two losses and an Elias Pettersson that hasn't played well at all, being held to just one shot at five-on-five.
Thankfully, it's early, with 79 games to go in the regular season and Vancouver Canucks fans shouldn't be worrying just yet, but if this play continues into November and December, then some serious discussions will be needed about the direction of this group.

Former Vancouver Canuck Jannik Hansen gives his take on team's struggles

During an appearance on The People's Show on Sportsnet 650, former Vancouver Canucks forward Jannik Hansen spoke about the team's struggles to start the 2025-26 season.
Hansen believes that it's essentially the same as what fans saw last year, as the team doesn't have a true number one centerman through three games this season and is worried about the team right now.
"If you're looking at it from a perspective of 'are the Canucks going to get into the playoffs?', if that's the question you are posing to me, then I don't need to look...I squarely look at number 40. Can he will this team anywhere? Because without a number one center, you're not getting there. It's that simple. As good as it was to see Chytil score two goals against Calgary, without a true number one center, you're just not getting in there. So you can look at Petey and say, can Petey pull this team in the direction it needs to, we'll have enough depth scoring, we'll have enough penalty killing attributes, hopefully the power play can click, hopefully DeBrusk & Boeser will score their 25-30 goals each, then that should be enough to get Vancouver there, if they have a number one center." Hansen said.

He added, "After three games, they don't. And that's very harsh because it's only three games in and I started out by saying 'why are we doing this already?', but the sample size we have from last year, the year prior is more of the same right now. That's the part that's a little bit worrying."
If the Vancouver Canucks can find a way to get Elias Pettersson going, perhaps by giving him more ice time after seeing a drop off in the first three games, then they'll be in good shape, but they need to have that trickle down effect in other areas of their game that Hansen mentioned - depth scoring, penalty kill, power play, etc., because you can't rely solely on the Swedish forward to do it by himself.
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Former Vancouver Canucks Forward Doesn't Hold Back Calling Out Elias Pettersson

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